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Category: Electricity Energy and Utilities / Hydro Energy / States and Territories

Lake Gordon able to generate power despite record low levels says Hydro Tasmania

Thursday, 24 Mar 2016 13:59:56 | Richard Baines

Water levels at Lake Gordon are at a record low of 6.7 per cent. (ABC News: Richard Baines)

Hydro Tasmania says all the water in Lake Gordon is available for power generation despite levels sitting at a record low of just 6.7 per cent.

In a statement to the ABC, Hydro Tasmania is not putting a figure on how low the lake can go before the nearby Gordon Power Station needs to reduce its capacity, which is currently at 60 per cent.

"Gordon Power Station can continue to generate with very low lake levels in Lake Gordon. All the water in Lake Gordon is available for generation," a spokeswoman said.

Lake Gordon in the south-west feeds into the state's biggest hydro-electric system.

The ABC revealed on Wednesday that water levels at Lake Gordon, Tasmania's key hydroelectric source, had fallen to a record low.

Falling levels have revealed debris normally sitting below the waterline including rusted industrial rubbish, thought to be from when the dam was built in the 1970s.

The Government has previously said that dams could fall to 6.5 per cent before they could not be used for power generation.

But Premier Will Hodgman said that was the overall figure for hydro storages, not Lake Gordon.

"I'm advised there is significant more capacity at Gordon," Mr Hodgman said.

"We need to be very careful obviously with the thresholds across all dams.

"The 6.5 figure, that did relate to the entire state and the Hydro assets across the state."

Mr Hodgman would not put a figure on how low levels at Lake Gordon could go before it would not be able to be utilised for power generation.

"The situation at Gordon, the very clear advice we've got is that there is indeed capacity to utilise that asset further, not withstanding very low levels," he said.

"But of course we will continue to monitor the situation and Hydro will be doing that as well."

Greens label Lake Gordon levels 'a disaster'

Greens MP Rosalie Woodruff said the situation could have dire implications, with water levels so low.

"It's a disaster, it's a disaster for the ecosystems of the area, it's a disaster for the potential damage it could have on the turbines," she said.

"Every point of a per cent the dams are going lower, is having a much more serious consequence, and so the lower we get the more extreme the consequences are.

"They're extreme for the Hydro assets, they're extreme for the environments and they're extreme in terms of the level of insecurity that they are leaving us heading into winter."

Ms Woodruff is also concerned about the additional strain on the facility as winter approaches.

"What we are looking at is the potential of going into a winter period with brownouts," she said.